Black Velvet
by silvershadeus
Summary: The eyes never lie...


Written late at night during another bout of insomnia. Shounen ai implications, of course. ^^;;

~silvershadeus~

Disclaimer: I do not own _ Weiß Kreuz_, I'm just borrowing the characters for a little bit.

feedback, onegai! ^_^

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**Black Velvet**

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It was quiet here. No one bothering him with their incessant chatter. No hormone-driven teenage girls pressing in on him, demanding that he notice them. No irritating blonde playboy sending him sultry looks when the other's backs were turned. No deliberately klutzy dark-haired ex-soccer player acting the clown to defuse tense situations. No bright-eyed teenager with eyes too old for someone his age smiling fake smiles.   
  
It was for those reasons that Aya liked the moderate-sized greenhouse they'd been allotted. The four of them must have been doing something right because the greenery flourished under their care. It was like being in an amazingly condensed forest, the scent of various blooms and herbs reaching his nose.   
  
It was just him, the plants, and the soft drip, drip, drip of the faucet that none of them had been able to fix. Not even Ken in his handyman mode had been able to repair it despite numerous trips to the hardware store.   
  
Closing his eyes, Aya spread his arms out, palm up and took a deep breath. He held it to the count of ten and then slowly released it feeling his muscles relaxing as he exhaled. He repeated the breathing exercise several more times and by the time he was finished he didn't feel quite so ready to kill anything or anyone that happened to cross his path.  
  
Especially a certain green-eyed individual who just seemed to be asking for a katana blade in his ribs. Angled _just so_, so as to not hit the heart or other such vital organs. Yohji was needed for their nightly missions after all...and he could make decent coffee - unlike Ken or Omi.  
  
Scowling, Aya's eyebrows drew down into a sharp 'v' as he caught the faint rustle of movement through the dense foliage behind him. He waited a beat, and smiled to himself when he heard it again, coming closer towards him.  
  
He knew who it was, of course. He _always_ knew. There was no mistaking the distinct gait, the scent of stale cigarette smoke and summer rain that seemed to cling to the man no matter where he went.  
  
"What do you want, Yohji?"  
  
There was something in his voice that quite clearly said it had better be important for the older man to interrupt his quiet time like that - and heaven help him if it wasn't.  
  
"How do you do that?"  
  
Yohji sounded genuinely curious, a lilt to his voice that seemed to indicate good-natured bafflement. Aya allowed himself the barest upturning of his lips, one violet eye slitting open in search of the older man.  
  
"It's easy when it's you."  
  
"Really?"   
  
Both eyes open now, Aya tipped his head to the side as he tried to pinpoint Yohji's location. Echoes carried in the greenhouse, only faintly muffled by the plants growing there.  
  
He hated repeating himself; it forced him to break the self-imposed silence he lived under. Made him seem more open to the thoughts and opinions and concerns of others. Made him vulnerable in a way that he didn't like to be.  
  
"Yes. Now what do you want?"  
  
Aya's eyes followed the sound of Yohji moving around him, just out of sight hidden by trailing vines of hanging plants and climbing plants set on low tables.  
  
"Eh, nothing really. Just wanted to see what you were doing out here, I guess."  
  
Aya's eyes narrowed as he realized what Yohji was doing. Circling him like a cat on the hunt, preparing to go in for the kill.   
  
"Slacking off again, you mean." Aya replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for Yohji to come to him.  
  
He could _hear_ the smile in Yohji's voice as the older man answered.  
  
"Ken and Omi have things well in hand. Don't worry, the girls aren't going to stampede through here anytime soon."  
  
Aya snorted, violet eyes sliding shut.  
  
"You said that about the back room."  
  
"Well how was I to know that girl would go to such lengths just to see her 'beloved'? You have to admit, Aya...she was kind of cute. Nice eyes, for one thing."  
  
Aya didn't say anything to that for a long moment, one corner of his mouth quirking upwards.  
  
"She was thirteen, Yohji."  
  
"But those _eyes_."  
  
Opening his eyes, Aya blinked long and slow.   
  
"You have a thing for eyes?"  
  
It was news to him; he'd always assumed Yohji was far more interested in a woman's...other attributes. Not something so benign. Something so revealing as that.  
  
"Oh yes. They don't lie, you know. The eyes, I mean."  
  
Aya lifted an eyebrow, clearly in doubt of Yohji's current state of mind.  
  
"How so?"  
  
Yohji was moving in circles that were gradually getting smaller and smaller, eventually he would be forced to step into the small area where Aya stood. Something which no doubt had been his goal form the very beginning.  
  
"It's the small things, you know. The way they look at you. The way they won't look at you. The way they shift to the right, to the left...but I'm sure you already know all about that. All those countless little signs that let you know what they're thinking."  
  
Aya's eyes shifted, sliding to his right as he saw a flash of color that didn't quite belong.  
  
"Then what are mine telling you right now?"  
  
There was a slight pause, a rustle of greenery being pushed aside and then Yohji was standing there facing him with a wry smile on his lips. As ever, his eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. Ironic, from a man who adored the eyes so, that he would choose to shield his.   
  
Yohji took another gliding step forward placing him an arms length away from Aya - who had remained motionless the whole time. There was something between them that demanded to be faced at that moment, in that way. Something that neither of them could ignore.  
  
Tipping his head to the side, Yohji took another half step forward. Reaching up he brushed his fingers against Aya's face. His touch feather light he traced the curve of Aya's eyebrows, fingers coming to rest at the junction of jaw and throat.  
  
Lowering his hand, Yohji's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. Uncertain of what he'd seen flickering in the depths of Aya's eyes. Uncertain of what he thought he'd seen. Uncertain if it had been real - or merely wishful thinking on his part. Things were always confusing around Aya - and tended to become more so when he was looking at him the way he was. It was almost as though...  
  
Dropping his hand to his side, Yohji closed his eyes and tried not to think. Tried not to hope. Tried not to wish.  
  
"I don't know, Aya. I don't know what your eyes are trying to tell me...I never do."   
  
Silence then, save for the thrice-damned dripping of the faucet and their quiet breathing.  
  
And then...  
  
Yohji started, eyes snapping open in surprise as he felt Aya's fingers brush along his temple, cool and gentle.   
  
"Aya?"  
  
The redhead didn't reply in words, but with his actions. Yohji lifted a hand to stop him as Aya carefully removed his sunglasses, but something in the other's eyes made his protest die stillborn on his tongue.   
  
Holding Yohji's sunglasses in one hand, Aya stepped back, putting distance between them once more. Yohji felt somehow saddened by that act - and then he realized that the distance between them now was smaller.   
  
"You're a hypocrite, Yohji. You say the eyes never lie, and then you hide behind these so no one can tell what yours are doing." Aya said coolly, gesturing with the hand holding Yohji's sunglasses. "Do you want to know what your eyes are telling me right now, Yohji?"  
  
Yohji tried desperately to look away, but Aya's eyes caught his. Held them with the weight of his. And Yohji knew he was lost in that moment, unable to break the hold Aya had on him...even if he'd wanted to.  
  
"You're afraid, Yohji. You want something that you can't have, so you hide. You play games. You laugh and joke and smile - but you're still afraid. You do anything but face the truth. You're afraid, and you don't know how to face that fear."  
  
Yohji laughed then, something sharp and bitter that hurt to hear. Something...broken.  
  
"You're good at that, Aya. Reading the eyes, I mean. '...something I can't have...' I should have known, I guess."  
  
More silence.  
  
"Try again."   
  
Blinking, Yohji looked up to see Aya watching him with a look of challenge in his eyes, arms once more crossed across his chest.  
  
"What?"  
  
Sighing, Aya's eyes narrowed. This whole thing was growing tiresome, and if Yohji wasn't going to do as he'd asked then he would wash his hands of him and go back to meditating in peace.   
  
"Try reading my eyes again, Yohji. Tell me what you see now that these aren't in the way." He explained, holding Yohji's sunglasses up for the other man to see.  
  
Yohji blinked once more, not quite certain what was going through Aya's head at the moment - and desperately trying to figure it out.  
  
"I...Aya? Are you sure?"  
  
"Don't make me regret this, Yohji."  
  
Aya's words, so cold and clipped, snapped Yohji back to himself. Brought him back from where he had been to where he was with a jolt.  
  
Green eyes narrowing, Yohji smiled. It was small and barely there, but oh the things that his smile said with only the barest curving of his lips. The things they implied in that simple expression. Things better left unspoken because to give them voice made them real.   
  
"All right then. Whatever you want, Aya."  
  
Taking a step forward, Yohji stared down at Aya. His smile widened slightly as he saw the way Aya was watching him, forehead furrowed in a slight frown.   
  
Annoyance, no doubt. He always managed to annoy Aya in some way - even when he wasn't trying.  
  
Studying Aya's eyes was something he thought he could be happy doing for the rest of his life. They were fascinating in a way that no other pair of eyes had ever been to him. He'd never seen any that peculiar shade of violet spiked with gold. Had never seen eyes like his rimmed in black shot-through with silver at the edges. Had never seen that look directed at him. Had never...  
  
"Well?"  
  
Yohji was shaken by what he'd seen, thinking it some kind of dream or cruel joke. Aya had said it himself; he wanted something he could never have. Something as impossible as lassoing the moon. Something he could never have, because it wasn't something anyone could have. It wasn't something that could be caught and tamed to his or any other's hand. It -   
  
"What did you see, Yohji?"  
  
"I..."  
  
Aya waited, violet eyes narrowed. He had done his part, now to see if Yohji knew his.  
  
"Aya... Is this real?"  
  
There was a strange look on Yohji's face - a combination of disbelief and wonder. So much hope, buried beneath a natural wariness of being hurt. His voice trembled with it, and the look in his eyes -   
  
Smiling to himself, Aya bridged the gap between them and lifted a hand to trace the curve of Yohji's jaw line. His eyes meeting Yohji's, Aya allowed himself the barest of smiles, so much like Yohji's earlier one.  
  
"Aya?"  
  
Yohji sounded confused now, uncertain of what he should do. Uncertain of what he should say. Uncertain of himself...and Aya. He looked to Aya for some kind of instruction of how to proceed. Of what to do.  
  
Pulling Yohji closer, Aya didn't reply in words, but with his actions.


End file.
